1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light-emitting apparatus using an organic electroluminescent (EL) element.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a light-emitting apparatus using an organic EL elements, pixels are formed by forming on a substrate a plurality of first electrodes, a film formed of a plurality of organic materials including an emission layer, and a second electrode in this order. By applying voltage between the first electrodes and the second electrode, charge is injected from the respective electrodes, and hole-electron recombination is generated in the emission layer to emit light. Generally, a plurality of first electrodes are formed on the substrate in a state of being electrically independent of one another, and the second electrode is formed so as to cover the plurality of first electrodes. By providing the first electrodes to be electrically independent of one another in this way, an arbitrarily selected place can be caused to emit light.
However, with the pixel number increase in a light-emitting apparatus in recent years, the problem of leakage current between closely-placed adjacent pixels is becoming obvious. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-277590 proposes a method of inhibiting such leakage current between adjacent pixels by using an insulating film in a tapered shape for separating pixels.
However, in the method of inhibiting leakage current using the insulating film for separating pixels described above, it is necessary to form the insulating film for separating pixels, which is not suitable for higher-resolution pixels.